Catholic Diocese Bans Church Hymns Singled Out for Doctrinal Problems by the USCCB

I've seen comments that this is just a matter of the Bishop's taste. NO! He is following guidelines from the USCCB, not his own 'taste'.

From LifeSiteNews

By Emily Mangiaracina

Bishop Shawn McKnight banned a list of hymns, some commonly used in Catholic churches, due to lyrics that erode Catholic teaching on doctrines such as the Eucharist and the Trinity.

The Diocese of Jefferson City recently banned hymns deemed to be “doctrinally problematic” based on U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) guidelines.

Deacon Greg Kandra shared on Tuesday a memo from the Missouri diocese announcing that Bishop W. Shawn McKnight had “published a list of prohibited hymns and composers” based on the USCCB’s guidelines, published in 2020, on evaluating whether Church hymns are suitable for the liturgy. 

The bishops’ conference had named specific examples of doctrinally unsound hymns, which are cited in Bishop McKnight’s list, including the popular “All Are Welcome,” “Bread of Life” by Bernadette Farrell, and “Table of Plenty” by Dan Schutte. 

All hymns composed by David Haas, Cesareo Gabarain, and Ed Conlin have also been banned by Bishop McKnight due to “credible accusations of abuse” against these men.

The bishops’ conference’s “aid for evaluating hymn lyrics,” published in September 2020, listed two “general guidelines” used to determine whether a hymn is permissible for use in the liturgy: Whether it is “in conformity with Catholic doctrine,” and whether it is “expressed in image and vocabulary” that reflects “the usage of Scripture and the public liturgical prayer of the Church.”

The document notes that while hymns do not need to be “composed of doctrinal formulae,” “It is important to avoid language that could be easily misconstrued in a way that is contrary to Catholic doctrine.” The bishops enumerated a few different categories of doctrine in which “deficiencies” may be found in church hymns, including “Trinitarian doctrine” and the “doctrine of God and His relation to humans.”

“By far the most common and the most serious” deficiency, according to the bishops, is that found in hymns’ presentation of “Eucharistic doctrine.”

“Catholics nurtured on a steady diet of certain hymns will learn from them that at Mass we come together to share bread and wine, which remain bread and wine, a common meal, even if under special circumstances,” the bishops warned. “A steady diet of these hymns would erode Catholic sensibility regarding the fullness of Eucharistic teaching, on the Mass as sacrifice, and eventually on the Church, as formed by that sacrifice.”

“All Are Welcome” is one such hymn the bishops have banned, with the explanation that its reference to “water, wine, and wheat” gives the “image of the Eucharist” as that of “an ordinary banquet where one drinks water and wine and eats wheat bread.” 

“Further, water is not on the same level as bread and wine as matter for the Eucharist, and to list them in sequence therefore only increases the implication that we are at a banquet eating ordinary food together,” the bishops explain.

According to the bishops, while the use of the words “Bread” or “Bread of Life” are in and of themselves not a problem, since they are examples of “scriptural synecdoches for the Eucharist itself,” calling the consecrated element “wine” in like manner “gives the impression that it is still wine.”

Credible allegations of abuse have been levied against Haas, Gabarain, and Conlin, leading to a prohibition of all their hymns. Haas, who is best known for his modernist hymns “Blest Are They,” “You Are Mine,” and “We Are Called,” has also shown signs of heterodoxy, such as by composing a chant in 2019 to celebrate homosexuality for Pride Month, posting it on his Facebook page but then later deleting it. 

Haas was stripped of an honorary doctorate and a Pax Christi Award after abuse accusations.

Despite the fact that the USCCB has named specific hymns as doctrinally problematic, at least a portion of them are still included in hymnals widely used across the U.S., such as the most recent (4th) edition of the Gather hymnal, which includes “All Are Welcome,” and several other hymns banned by Bishop McKnight, including “Covenant Hymn,” “For the Healing of the Nations,” “God has Chosen Me,” “Halleluya! We Sing Your Praises,” and “Many and Great.”

LifeSiteNews reached out to the Diocese of Jefferson City for comment but had not received a response as of the time of publishing.

Pictured: His Lordship Shawn McKnight, Bishop of Jefferson City